


The darkness in the sun

by Send_help_im_drowning



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-20
Updated: 2020-03-06
Packaged: 2021-02-27 10:01:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 14,948
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22335235
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Send_help_im_drowning/pseuds/Send_help_im_drowning
Summary: The war on the titans may have been won with her help, but Emily-Catherine Solace (Cath or Cathy if you knew her before the war, Missy if you're her twin Will) has lost. Her closest of friends have either died or been a cause of death. Her trust is gone. Her faith is gone. Her love for anyone and anything but her brother is gone.What happens when her once close friend and a son of Iris crash her cabin's chariot into the lake as they arrive with three new demigods? What happens when the three of them go on a quest with her to save the queen of heavens? Possibly more important, what happens if amongst those three is the one to save her from herself?
Relationships: Annabeth Chase/Percy Jackson, Hazel Levesque/Frank Zhang, Jason Grace/Piper McLean, Leo Valdez/Original Female Character(s), Nico di Angelo/Will Solace
Comments: 3
Kudos: 12





	1. Chapter 1

**EMILY-CATHERINE**

"The lake! Aim for the lake!" I looked up from my book to see a chariot - my cabin's chariot - crashing into the water.

The naiads tossed Annabeth and three new kids onto the shore. Nearby, Butch stood in the lake, cutting the wrecked harnesses off the pegasi. Fortunately, the horses looked okay, but they were flapping their wings and splashing water everywhere. A detail of campers ran up with big bronze leaf blower-looking things and blasted everyone with hot air; and in about two seconds their clothes were dry. A second later the wreckage of the chariot was tossed from the lake and landed nearby with a wet crunch.  
  
“Annabeth!” My twin pushed through the crowd. “I said you could borrow the chariot, not destroy it!” I walked up next to him and crossed my arms.  
  
“Will, Cath, I’m sorry,” Annabeth sighed. “I’ll get it fixed, I promise.”  
  
I scowled at our broken chariot, then sized up the three new kids. “These are the ones? Way older than thirteen. Why haven’t they been claimed already?” I couldn't help the snippy tone of my voice. I'm not even sure if I'd spoken more gently if I wanted to at this point, not when Annabeth was involved.  
  
“Claimed?” one of the new kids asked, snapping me out of my thoughts.  
  
Before Annabeth could explain, Will said, “Any sign of Percy?”  
  
“No,” Annabeth admitted.  
  
The campers muttered. I just rolled my eyes at the thought of him.  
  
Another girl stepped forward - tall, Asian, dark hair in ringlets, plenty of jewelry, and perfect makeup. Somehow, Drew managed to make jeans and an orange T-shirt look glamorous. She glanced at the shorter of the two guys, fixed her eyes on the taller like he might be worthy of her attention, then curled her lip at the girl as if she were a week-old burrito that had just been pulled out of a Dumpster.  
  
“Well,” she said, “I hope they’re worth the trouble.”  
  
The shorter guy snorted. “Gee, thanks. What are we, your new pets?”  
  
“No kidding,” The tall one said. “How about some answers before you start judging us - like, what is this place, why are we here, how long do we have to stay?”  
  
“Jason,” Annabeth said, “I promise we’ll answer your questions. And Drew” - she frowned at the glamour girl - “all demigods are worth saving. But I’ll admit, the trip didn’t accomplish what I hoped.”  
  
“Hey,” the girl said, “we didn’t ask to be brought here.”  
  
Drew sniffed. “And nobody wants you, hon. Does your hair always look like a dead badger?”  
  
The girl stepped forward, ready to smack her, but Annabeth said, “Piper, stop.”  
  
Piper did, smartly - Annabeth isn't somebody you want for an enemy.  
  
“We need to make our new arrivals feel welcome,” Annabeth said, with another pointed look at Drew. “We’ll assign them each a guide, give them a tour of camp. Hopefully by the campfire tonight, they’ll be claimed.”  
  
“Would somebody tell me what claimed means?” Piper asked.  
  
Suddenly there was a collective gasp. The campers backed away.  
  
Floating over the shorter guy's head was a blazing holographic image - a fiery hammer, the symbol of Hephaestus.  
  
“That,” Annabeth said, “is claiming.”  
  
“What’d I do?” The guy backed toward the lake. Then he glanced up and yelped. “Is my hair on fire?” He ducked, but the symbol followed him, bobbing and weaving so it looked like he was trying to write something in flames with his head.  
  
“This can’t be good,” Butch muttered. “The curse-”  
  
“Butch, shut up,” Annabeth said. “Leo, you’ve just been claimed-”  
  
“By a god,” The blond one interrupted. “That’s the symbol of Vulcan, isn’t it?”  
  
All eyes turned to him.  
  
“Jason,” Annabeth said carefully, “how did you know that?”  
  
“I’m not sure.”  
  
“Vulcan?” Leo demanded. “I don’t even LIKE Star Trek. What are you talking about?”  
  
“Vulcan is the Roman name for Hephaestus,” I said, rolling my eyes. “He's the god of blacksmiths and fire.”  
  
The fiery hammer faded, but Leo kept swatting the air like he was afraid it was following him. “The god of what? Who?”  
  
Annabeth turned to me and my twin. “Will, Cath, would you take Leo, give him a tour? Introduce him to his bunk-mates in Cabin Nine.”  
  
“Sure, Annabeth,” My brother agreed. I wanted to roll my eyes at her, but I didn't want to disappoint my twin. I'd promised him a few days ago - a day before Percy disappeared - that I'd try not to be as hostile towards them.  
  
“What’s Cabin Nine?” Leo asked. “And I’m not a Vulcan!”  
  
“Come on, Mr. Spock, I’ll explain everything.” Will put a hand on his shoulder and steered him off toward the cabins, his other arm linked with mine - something we'd done since we were little.  
  
We were showing him everything, but Will did most (all) of the explaining.  
  
“Do I get a sword?” Leo asked as we walked past the sword arena.  
  
Will glanced at him like he found the idea disturbing. “You’ll probably make your own, seeing as how you’re in Cabin Nine.”  
  
“Yeah, what’s up with that? Vulcan?”  
  
“Usually we don’t call the gods by their Roman names,” Will said. “The original names are Greek. Your dad is Hephaestus.”  
  
“Festus? Sounds like the god of cowboys.”  
  
“He-phaestus,” I corrected, annoyed. “God of blacksmiths and fire.”  
  
“So the flaming hammer over my head,” Leo said. “Good thing, or bad thing?”  
  
Will took a while to answer. “You were claimed almost immediately. That’s usually good.”  
  
“But that Rainbow Pony dude, Butch - he mentioned a curse.”  
  
“Ah... look, it’s nothing. Since Cabin Nine’s last head counselor died-”

“Died? Like, painfully?” I crossed my arms, looked towards the ground, and resisted the urge to run away. I did _not_ need to hear about Charlie's death today. It was on my mind enough as it is.  
  
“I ought to let your bunkmates tell you about it.”  
  
“Yeah, where are my home dawgs? Shouldn’t their counselor be giving me the VIP tour?”  
  
“He, um, can’t. You’ll see why.” We forged ahead before Leo could ask anything else.  
  
“Curses and death,” Leo said to himself. “This just gets better and better.” He then froze in his tracks.  
  
“What’s wrong?” Will asked.  
  
“That old lady...” Leo said. “What’s she doing here?”  
  
I tried to follow his gaze.

“What old lady?”Will asked. I frowned - if Will couldn't see her either, why could this guy?  
  
“Dude, _the_ old lady. The one in black. How many old ladies do you see over there?”  
  
“I think you’ve had a long day, Leo. The Mist could still be playing tricks on your mind. How about we head straight to your cabin now?” I started walking at my brother's words before Leo could answer.  
  
“Just messing with you, man.” Leo pulled some gears and levers from his pockets and started fiddling with them.  
  
“Let’s go see Cabin Nine,” he said. “I’m in the mood for a good curse.”


	2. Chapter 2

**LEO**

From the outside, the Hephaestus cabin looked like an oversize RV with shiny metal walls and metal-slatted windows. The entrance was like a bank vault door, circular and several feet thick. It opened with lots of brass gears turning and hydraulic pistons blowing smoke.  
  
I whistled. “They got a steampunk theme going on, huh?”

Inside, the cabin seemed deserted. Steel bunks were folded against the walls like high-tech Murphy beds. Each had a digital control panel, blinking LED lights, glowing gems, and interlocking gears. I figured each camper had his own combination lock to release his bed, and there was probably an alcove behind it with storage, maybe some traps to keep out unwanted visitors. At least, that’s the way I would’ve designed it. A fire pole came down from the second floor, even though the cabin didn’t appear to have a second floor from the outside. A circular staircase led down into some kind of basement. The walls were lined with every kind of power tool I could imagine, plus a huge assortment of knives, swords, and other implements of destruction. A large workbench overflowed with scrap metal - screws, bolts, washers, nails, rivets, and a million other machine parts. I had a strong urge to shovel them all into my coat pockets. I loved that kind of stuff. But I’d need a hundred more coats to fit it all.  
  
Looking around, I could almost imagine I was back in my mom’s machine shop. Not the weapons, maybe - but the tools, the piles of scrap, the smell of grease and metal and hot engines. She would’ve loved this place.  
  
I pushed that thought away. I didn’t like painful memories. Keep moving - that was my motto. Don’t dwell on things. Don’t stay in one place too long. It was the only way to stay ahead of the sadness.  
  
I picked a long implement from the wall. “A weed whacker? What’s the god of fire want with a weed whacker?”  
  
A voice in the shadows said, “You’d be surprised.”  
  
At the back of the room, one of the bunk beds was occupied. A curtain of dark camouflage material retracted, and I could see the guy who’d been invisible a second before. It was hard to tell much about him because he was covered in a body cast. His head was wrapped in gauze except for his face, which was puffy and bruised. He looked like the Pillsbury Doughboy after a beat-down.  
  
“I’m Jake Mason,” the guy said. “I’d shake your hand, but …”  
  
“Yeah,” I said. “Don’t get up.”  
  
The guy cracked a smile, then winced like it hurt to move his face. I wondered what had happened to him, but was afraid to ask.  
  
“Welcome to Cabin Nine,” Jake said. “Been almost a year since we had any new kids. I’m head counselor for now.”  
  
“For now?” Leo asked.  
  
Will Solace cleared his throat. “So where is everybody, Jake?”  
  
“Down at the forges,” Jake said wistfully. “They’re working on... you know, that problem.”

Emily-Catherine, the girl who Will had introduced as his twin sister, glared at the floor. At some points in the tour I'd nearly forgotten she was there, since she hadn't said a single word so far, but the way she glared at everything made it impossible to ignore her.  
  
Looking at his sister, Will changed the subject. “So, you got a spare bed for Leo?”  
  
Jake studied me, sizing him up. “You believe in curses, Leo? Or ghosts?”  
  
 _I just saw my evil babysitter Tía Callida_ , I thought. _She’s got to be dead after all these years. And I can’t go a day without remembering my mom in that machine shop fire. Don’t talk to me about ghosts, doughboy._  
  
But aloud, I said, “Ghosts? Pfft. Nah. I’m cool. A storm spirit chucked me down the Grand Canyon this morning, but you know, all in a day’s work, right?”  
  
Jake nodded. “That’s good. Because I’ll give you the best bed in the cabin - Beckendorf’s.”

Emily-Catherine's head snapped up, and she glared hard at Jake. He flinched, then grimaced like it had hurt. Thinking about it, it probably did.  
  
“Jake,” Will said. “You sure?”  
  
Jake called out: “Bunk 1-A, please.”  
  
The whole cabin rumbled. A circular section of the floor spiraled open like a camera lens, and a full-size bed popped up. The bronze frame had a built-in game station at the footboard, a stereo system in the headboard, a glass-door refrigerator mounted into the base, and a whole bunch of control panels running down the side.  
  
I jumped right in and lay back with arms behind my head. “I can handle this.”  
  
“It retracts into a private room below,” Jake said.  
  
“Oh, heck, yes,” I said. “See y’all. I’ll be down in the Leo Cave. Which button do I press?”  
  
“Hold on,” Will protested. “You guys have private underground rooms?”  
  
Jake probably would’ve smiled if it didn’t hurt so much. “We got lots of secrets, Will. You Apollo guys can’t have all the fun. Our campers have been excavating the tunnel system under Cabin Nine for almost a century. We still haven’t found the end. Anyway, Leo, if you don’t mind sleeping in a dead man’s bed, it’s yours.”  
  
Suddenly I didn’t feel like kicking back. I sat up, careful not to touch any of the buttons. “The counselor who died - this was his bed?”  
  
“Yeah,” Emily-Catherine said, very bitterly. “Charles Beckendorf.”  
  
I imagined saw blades coming through the mattress, or maybe a grenade sewn inside the pillows. “He didn’t, like, die in this bed, did he?”  
  
“No,” Jake said. “In the Titan War, last summer.”  
  
“The Titan War,” I repeated, “which has nothing to do with this very fine bed?”  
  
“The Titans,” Will said, like I was an idiot. “The big powerful guys that ruled the world before the gods. They tried to make a comeback last summer. Their leader, Kronos, built a new palace on top of Mount Tam in California. Their armies came to New York and almost destroyed Mount Olympus. A lot of demigods died trying to stop them.”  
  
“I’m guessing this wasn’t on the news?” I said.  
  
It seemed like a fair question, but Will shook his head in disbelief. “You didn’t hear about Mount St. Helens erupting, or the freak storms across the country, or that building collapsing in St. Louis?”  
  
I shrugged. Last summer, I’d been on the run from another foster home. Then a truancy officer caught me in New Mexico, and the court sentenced me to the nearest correctional facility - the Wilderness School. “Guess I was busy.”  
  
“Doesn’t matter,” Jake said. “You were lucky to miss it. The thing is, Beckendorf was one of the first casualties, and ever since then-”  
  
“Your cabin’s been cursed,” I guessed.  
  
Jake didn’t answer. Then again, the dude was in a body cast. That was an answer. I started noticing little things that I hadn’t seen before - an explosion mark on the wall, a stain on the floor that might’ve been oil... or blood. Broken swords and smashed machines kicked into the corners of the room, maybe out of frustration. The place did feel unlucky.

Jake sighed halfheartedly. “Well, I should get some sleep. I hope you like it here, Leo. It used to be... really nice.”  
  
He closed his eyes, and the camouflage curtain drew itself across the bed.  
  
“Come on, Leo,” Will said. “I’ll take you to the forges.”

As we were leaving, I looked back at my new bed, and I could almost imagine a dead counselor sitting there - another ghost who wasn’t going to leave me alone.


	3. Chapter 3

**EMILY-CATHERINE**

“How did he die?" Leo asked. “I mean Beckendorf.”  
  
We trudged ahead. “Explosion. Beckendorf and Percy Jackson blew up a cruise ship full of monsters. Beckendorf didn’t make it out.”

I bit my lip. Charlie's death was hardest on Silena (his girlfriend) and me. He'd been the one to lead me and Will around camp, and when Will and I got claimed, he made me my bow, which I still used to this day. Next from Will, Silena and Luke, Charlie had been my best friend, and now I only had Will.  
  
“So Beckendorf was pretty popular?” Leo asked. “I mean - before he blew up?”  
  
“He was awesome,” I said, reminiscing in bittersweet memories. “It was hard on the whole camp when he died. Jake - he became head counselor in the middle of the war. Same as we did." Will squeezed my shoulder before taking over.

"Jake did his best, but he never wanted to be leader. He just likes building stuff. Then after the war, things started to go wrong. Cabin Nine’s chariots blew up. Their automatons went haywire. Their inventions started to malfunction. It was like a curse, and eventually people started calling it that - the Curse of Cabin Nine. Then Jake had his accident-”  
  
“Which had something to do with the problem he mentioned,” Leo guessed.  
  
“They’re working on it,” Will said without enthusiasm. “And here we are.”  
  
The forge looked like a steam-powered locomotive had smashed into the Greek Parthenon and they had fused together. White marble columns lined the soot-stained walls. Chimneys pumped smoke over an elaborate gable carved with a bunch of gods and monsters. The building sat at the edge of a stream, with several waterwheels turning a series of bronze gears. We could hear machinery grinding inside, fires roaring, and hammers ringing on anvils.  
  
We stepped through the doorway, and a dozen guys and girls who’d been working on various projects all froze. The noise died down to the roar of the forge and the click-click-click of gears and levers.  
  
“’Sup, guys,” Will said. “This is your new brother, Leo- um, what’s your last name?”  
  
“Valdez.” Leo looked around at the other campers.  
  
Kids came up and started shaking hands and introducing themselves. None of them looked like the others - all different face types, skin tone, hair color, height. You’d never think, Hey, look, it’s the Hephaestus Bunch! But they all had powerful hands, rough with calluses and stained with engine grease. Even little Harley, who was just eight years old, looked like he could go six rounds with Chuck Norris without breaking a sweat - heck, he probably _could,_ thinking about it.  
  
And all the kids shared a sad kind of seriousness. Their shoulders slumped like life had beaten them down pretty hard. Several looked like they’d been physically beaten up, too. I counted two arm slings, one pair of crutches, an eye patch, six Ace bandages, and about seven thousand Band-Aids.  
  
“Well, all right!” Leo said. “I hear this is the party cabin!”  
  
Nobody laughed. They all just stared at him.  
  
Will patted Leo’s shoulder. “I’ll leave you guys to get acquainted. Somebody show Leo to dinner when it’s time?”  
  
“I got it,” Nyssa said.  
  
“Cool,” Leo said. “I always wanted a sister who could beat me up.”  
  
Nyssa didn’t smile. “Come on, joker boy. I’ll show you around.”  
  
I turned around and walked off, only mildly dragging Will along.

"Hey..." He tugged lightly on my arm when we were out of the forges' hearing distance., and I got the hint. I stopped and turned around. He unhooked our elbows and put his hands on my shoulders.

"Hey, I know it's hard to talk about them, but it's been months. You have to start accepting people in your life again..." I had been avoiding his gaze, but I looked him straight into the eyes at that.

"What, so they can die on me too? So the so-called 'heroes' of this camp can make them explode, cause them to drown underneath the remains of a bridge," - my voice cracked, so I lowered it to a whisper - "give them a knife to kill themselves with?"

"You know damn well that it was their own choice to take the risk, and you made the same choice. And you know I love you, but you have to stop blaming others." I went back to avoiding his gaze. "Missy, you know I love you, but this behavior is not healthy. I should know, I'm the best healer at camp." He joked softly, squeezing my shoulders.

"I know, it's just... It's harder than you'd think, okay? I'm trying not to be a total bitch, I swear." His soft smile turned into a grin at that, and he slung his arm around my shoulder.

"There's my little sis. Now c'mon, let's check the infirmary's inventory before dinner, and you can shine at the campfire tonight."


	4. Chapter 4

**EMILY-CATHERINE**

Even if I was ridden with sadness and anger from nostalgia, I enjoyed campfires. Fifty or sixty kids filled the rows, clustered into groups under various banners.  
  
Standing in front of the fire, half a dozen campers - most of them from my own cabin - with guitars and lyres were jumping around, with me leading a song about pieces of armor and about how our grandma got dressed for war. Everybody was singing with us and making gestures for the pieces of armor and joking around. As the energy level got higher, the flames did too, turning from red to orange to gold. As I sung, I felt my vision fade. I saw myself firing arrow after arrow, the landscape around me frozen. I felt that it would happen soon, but before I could see or sense any details, one of my half-sisters bumped into me and interrupted my premonition.  
  
Finally the song ended with a lot of rowdy applause. We all sat down underneath our respective banners. Chiron trotted forward, brandishing a spear impaled with toasted marshmallows. “Very nice! And a special welcome to our new arrivals. I am Chiron, camp activities director, and I’m happy you have all arrived here alive and with most of your limbs attached. In a moment, I promise we’ll get to the s’mores, but first-”  
  
“What about capture the flag?” somebody yelled. Grumbling broke out among some Ares kids.

“Yes,” the centaur said. “I know the Ares cabin is anxious to return to the woods for our regular games.”  
  
“And kill people!” one of them shouted.  
  
“However,” Chiron said, “until the dragon is brought under control, that won’t be possible. Cabin Nine, anything to report on that?”  
  
He turned to Leo’s group. Leo winked at Piper and shot her with a finger gun. Nyssa stood uncomfortably. “We’re working on it.”  
  
More grumbling.  
  
“How, Nyssa?” an Ares kid demanded.  
  
“Really hard,” she said.  
  
Nyssa sat down to a lot of yelling and complaining, which caused the fire to sputter chaotically. Chiron stamped his hoof against the fire pit stones - bang, bang, bang - and the campers fell silent.  
  
“We will have to be patient,” Chiron said. “In the meantime, we have more pressing matters to discuss.”  
  
“Percy?” someone asked. The fire dimmed even further, and I rolled my eyes, clenching my fist a little.  
  
Chiron gestured to Annabeth. She took a deep breath and stood.  
  
“I didn’t find Percy,” she announced. Her voice caught a little when she said his name. “He wasn’t at the Grand Canyon like I thought. But we’re not giving up. We’ve got teams everywhere. Grover, Tyson, Nico, the Hunters of Artemis - everyone’s out looking. We will find him. Chiron’s talking about something different. A new quest.”  
  
“It’s the Great Prophecy, isn’t it?” a girl called out.  
  
Everyone turned. The voice had come from a group in back, sitting under a rose-colored banner with a dove emblem. They’d been chatting among themselves and not paying much attention until their leader stood up: Drew.  
  
Everyone was pretty surprised. Drew didn’t address the crowd very often.  
  
“Drew?” Annabeth said. “What do you mean?”  
  
“Well, come on.” Drew spread her hands like the truth was obvious. “Olympus is closed. Percy’s disappeared. Hera sends you a vision and you come back with three new demigods in one day. I mean, something weird is going on. The Great Prophecy has started, right?”  
  
Piper whispered to Rachel, “What’s she talking about - the Great Prophecy?”  
  
Then she seemed to realize everyone else was looking at Rachel, too.  
  
“Well?” Drew called down. “You’re the oracle. Has it started or not?”  
  
Rachel’s eyes looked scary in the firelight. She stepped forward calmly and addressed the camp.  
  
“Yes,” she said. “The Great Prophecy has begun.”

Pandemonium broke out.  
  
When the talking finally subsided, Rachel took another step toward the audience, and fifty-plus demigods leaned away from her, as if one skinny redheaded mortal was more intimidating than all of them put together. I rolled my eyes at all of them.  
  
“For those of you who have not heard it,” Rachel said, “the Great Prophecy was my first prediction. It arrived in August. It goes like this:  
  
“ _Eight half-bloods shall answer the call. To storm or fire the world must fall_ -”  
  
Jason shot to his feet. His eyes looked wild, like he’d just been tasered.  
  
Even Rachel seemed caught off guard. “J-Jason?” she said. “What’s-”  
  
“ _U_ _t cum spiritu postrema sacramentum dejuremus_ ,” he chanted. “ _Et hostes ornamenta addent ad ianuam necem_.”  
  
An uneasy silence settled on the group.I saw everyone trying to translate it, but Latin didn't come as easily as Ancient Greek to us. I had powers over prophecies, though, and recognition sparked in me.  
  
“You just... finished the prophecy,” I stammered. I looked at Rachel, who seemed just as confused as I was.

“ - An oath to keep with a final breath/And foes bear arms to the Doors of Death. How did you...” Rachel trailed off  
  
“I know those lines.” Jason winced and put his hands to his temples. “I don’t know how, but I _know_ that prophecy.”  
  
“In Latin, no less,” Drew called out. “Handsome and smart.”  
  
There was some giggling from the Aphrodite cabin. _Gods, what a bunch of losers_ , I thought. Silena was pretty much the only Aphrodite kid I ever actually liked. Either way, Drew's words didn’t do much to break the tension. The campfire was burning a chaotic, nervous shade of green.  
  
Jason sat down, looking embarrassed, but Annabeth put a hand on his shoulder and muttered something reassuring.  
  
Rachel still looked a little shaken. She glanced back at Chiron for guidance, but the centaur stood grim and silent, as if he were watching a play he couldn’t interrupt - a tragedy that ended with a lot of people dead onstage.  
  
“Well,” Rachel said, trying to regain her composure. “So, yeah, that’s the Great Prophecy. We hoped it might not happen for years, but I fear it’s starting now. I can’t give you proof. It’s just a feeling. And like Drew said, some weird stuff is happening. The eight demigods, whoever they are, have not been gathered yet. I get the feeling some are here tonight. Some are not here.”  
  
The campers began to stir and mutter, looking at each other nervously, until a drowsy voice in the crowd called out, “I’m here! Oh... were you calling roll?”  
  
“Go back to sleep, Clovis,” I yelled, and some of the newer people laughed, thinking I was joking. A quick glare silenced them.  
  
“Anyway,” Rachel continued, “we don’t know what the Great Prophecy means. We don’t know what challenge the demigods will face, but since the first Great Prophecy predicted the Titan War, we can guess the second Great Prophecy will predict something at least that bad.”  
  
“Or worse,” Chiron murmured.  
  
Maybe he didn’t mean everyone to overhear, but they did. The campfire immediately turned dark purple.  
  
“What we do know,” Rachel said, “is that the first phase has begun. A major problem has arisen, and we need a quest to solve it. Hera, the queen of the gods, has been taken.”

Shocked silence. Then fifty demigods started talking at once.  
  
Chiron pounded his hoof again, but Rachel still had to wait before she could get back their attention.  
  
She told them about the incident on the Grand Canyon skywalk - how Gleeson Hedge had sacrificed himself when the storm spirits attacked, and the spirits had warned it was only the beginning. They apparently served some great mistress who would destroy all demigods.  
  
Then Rachel told them about Piper passing out in Hera’s cabin, and finally she got to Jason’s vision in the living room of the Big House.  
  
“Jason,” Rachel said. “Um... do you remember your last name?”  
  
He looked self-conscious, but he shook his head.  
  
“We’ll just call you Jason, then,” Rachel said. “It’s clear Hera herself has issued you a quest.”  
  
Rachel paused, as if giving Jason a chance to protest his destiny. Everyone’s eyes were on him; there was so much pressure, but he looked brave and determined. He set his jaw and nodded. “I agree.”  
  
“You must save Hera to prevent a great evil,” Rachel continued. “Some sort of king from rising. For reasons we don’t yet understand, it must happen by the winter solstice, only four days from now.”  
  
“That’s the council day of the gods,” Annabeth said. “If the gods don’t already know Hera’s gone, they will definitely notice her absence by then. They’ll probably break out fighting, accusing each other of taking her. That’s what they usually do.”  
  
“The winter solstice,” Chiron spoke up, “is also the time of greatest darkness. The gods gather that day, as mortals always have, because there is strength in numbers. The solstice is a day when evil magic is strong. Ancient magic, older than the gods. It is a day when things... stir.”  
  
The way he said it, stirring sounded absolutely sinister - like it should be a first-degree felony, not something you did to cookie dough.  
  
“Okay,” Annabeth said, glaring at the centaur. “Thank you, Captain Sunshine. Whatever’s going on, I agree with Rachel. Jason has been chosen to lead this quest, so-”  
  
“Why hasn’t he been claimed?” somebody yelled from the Ares cabin. “If he’s so important-”  
  
“He has been claimed,” Chiron announced. “Long ago. Jason, give them a demonstration.”  
  
At first, Jason didn’t seem to understand. He stepped forward nervously and glanced at Piper, who nodded encouragingly. She mimicked flipping a coin.  
  
Jason reached into his pocket. His coin flashed in the air, and when he caught it in his hand, he was holding a lance - a rod of gold about seven feet long, with a spear tip at one end.  
  
The other demigods gasped. Rachel and Annabeth stepped back to avoid the point, which looked sharp as an ice pick.  
  
“Wasn’t that...” Annabeth hesitated. “I thought you had a sword.”  
  
“Um, it came up tails, I think,” Jason said. “Same coin, long-range weapon form.”  
  
“Dude, I want one!” yelled somebody from Ares cabin.  
  
“Better than Clarisse’s electric spear, Lamer!” one of his brothers agreed.  
  
“Electric,” Jason murmured, like that was a good idea. “Back away.”  
  
Annabeth and Rachel got the message. Jason raised his javelin, and thunder broke open the sky. Every hair on my arms stood straight up. Lightning arced down through the golden spear point and hit the campfire with the force of an artillery shell.  
  
When the smoke cleared, and the ringing in my ears subsided, the entire camp sat frozen in shock, half blind, covered in ashes, staring at the place where the fire had been. Cinders rained down everywhere. A burning log had impaled itself a few inches from Clovis, who hadn’t even stirred.  
  
Jason lowered his lance. “Um... sorry.”  
  
Chiron brushed some burning coals out of his beard. He grimaced as if his worst fears had been confirmed. “A little overkill, perhaps, but you’ve made your point. And I believe we know who your father is.”  
  
“Jupiter,” Jason said. “I mean Zeus. Lord of the Sky.”

Everything broke into chaos, with dozens of people asking questions until Annabeth raised her arms.  
  
“Hold it!” she said. “How can he be the son of Zeus? The Big Three... their pact not to have mortal kids... how could we not have known about him sooner?”  
  
Chiron didn’t answer, but I got the feeling he knew. And the truth was not good.  
  
“The important thing,” Rachel said, “is that Jason’s here now. He has a quest to fulfill, which means he will need his own prophecy.”  
  
She closed her eyes and swooned. Two campers rushed forward and caught her. A third - my half-sister Lily - ran to the side of the amphitheater and grabbed a bronze three-legged stool; they’d been trained for this duty. They eased Rachel onto the stool in front of the ruined hearth. Without the fire, the night was dark, but green mist started swirling around Rachel’s feet. When she opened her eyes, they were glowing. Emerald smoke issued from her mouth. The voice that came out was raspy and ancient - the sound a snake would make if it could talk:  
  
“ _Child of lightning, beware the earth,_

_The giants’ revenge the eight shall birth,_

_The forge, dove and sun shall break the cage,_

_And death unleashes through Hera’s rage._ ”  
  
On the last word, Rachel collapsed, but her helpers were waiting to catch her. They carried her away from the hearth and laid her in the corner to rest.  
  
“Is that normal?” Piper asked. Everyone looked at her. “I mean… does she spew green smoke a lot?”  
  
“Gods, you’re dense!” Drew sneered. “She just issued a prophecy - Jason’s prophecy to save Hera! Why don’t you just-”  
  
“Drew,” Annabeth snapped. “Piper asked a fair question. Something about that prophecy definitely isn’t normal. If breaking Hera’s cage unleashes her rage and causes a bunch of death... why would we free her? It might be a trap, or- or maybe Hera will turn on her rescuers. She’s never been kind to heroes.”  
  
Jason rose. “I don’t have much choice. Hera took my memory. I need it back. Besides, we can’t just not help the queen of the heavens if she’s in trouble.”  
  
Nyssa stood up. “Maybe. But you should listen to Annabeth. Hera can be vengeful. She threw her own son - our dad - down a mountain just because he was ugly.”  
  
“Real ugly,” snickered someone from Aphrodite.  
  
“Shut up!” Nyssa growled. “Anyway, we’ve also got to think - why beware the earth? And what’s the giants’ revenge? What are we dealing with here that’s powerful enough to kidnap the queen of the heavens?”  
  
No one answered, but I noticed Annabeth and Chiron having a silent exchange, which went something like:  
  
Annabeth: _The giants’ revenge... no, it can’t be._  
  
Chiron: _Don’t speak of it here. Don’t scare them._  
  
Annabeth: _You’re kidding me! We can’t be_ that _unlucky._  
  
Chiron: _Later, child. If you told them everything, they would be too terrified to proceed._  
  
Annabeth took a deep breath. “It’s Jason’s quest,” she announced, “so it’s Jason’s choice. Obviously, he’s the child of lightning. According to tradition, he may choose any two companions, but this prophecy seems to ask for three.”  
  
Someone from the Hermes cabin yelled, “Well, you, obviously, Annabeth. You’ve got the most experience.”  
  
“No, Travis,” Annabeth said. “First off, I’m not helping Hera. Every time I’ve tried, she’s deceived me, or it’s come back to bite me later. Forget it. No way. Secondly, I’m leaving first thing in the morning to find Percy.”  
  
“It’s connected,” Piper blurted out. “You know that’s true, don’t you? This whole business, your boyfriend’s disappearance - it’s all connected.”  
  
“How?” demanded Drew. “If you’re so smart, how?”

Piper looked stunned, but Annabeth saved her. “You may be right, Piper. If this is connected, I’ll find out from the other end - by searching for Percy. As I said, I’m not about to rush off to rescue Hera, even if her disappearance sets the rest of the Olympians fighting again. But there’s another reason I can’t go. The prophecy says otherwise.”  
  
“It says who I pick,” Jason agreed. “The forge, dove and sun shall break the cage. The forge is the symbol of Vul- Hephaestus.”  
  
Under the Cabin Nine banner, Nyssa’s shoulders slumped, like she’d just been given a heavy anvil to carry. “If you have to beware the earth,” she said, “you should avoid traveling overland. You’ll need air transport. The flying chariot’s broken, and the pegasi, we’re using them to search for Percy. But maybe Hephaestus cabin can help figure out something else to help. With Jake incapacitated, I’m senior camper. I can volunteer for the quest.”  
  
She didn’t sound enthusiastic.  
  
Then Leo stood up. He’d been so quiet, I had almost forgotten he was there, which seemed to totally not be like Leo.  
  
“It’s me,” he said.  
  
His cabinmates stirred. Several tried to pull him back to his seat, but Leo resisted.  
  
“No, it’s me. I know it is. I’ve got an idea for the transportation problem. Let me try. I can fix this!”  
  
Jason studied him for a moment. I was sure he was going to tell Leo no. Then he smiled. “We started this together, Leo. Seems only right you come along. You find us a ride, you’re in.”  
  
“Yes!” Leo pumped his fist.  
  
“It’ll be dangerous,” Nyssa warned him. “Hardship, monsters, terrible suffering. Possibly none of you will come back alive.”  
  
“Oh.” Suddenly Leo didn’t look so excited. Then he remembered everyone was watching. “I mean... Oh, cool! Suffering? I love suffering! Let’s do this.”  
  
Annabeth nodded. “Then, Jason, you need to choose the third quest member. The dove-”  
  
“Oh, absolutely!” Drew was on her feet and flashing Jason a smile. “The dove is Aphrodite. Everybody knows that. I am totally yours.”  
  
Piper’s hands clenched. She stepped forward. “No.”  
  
Drew rolled her eyes. “Oh, please, Dumpster girl. Back off.”  
  
“I had the vision of Hera; not you. I have to do this.”  
  
“Anyone can have a vision,” Drew said. “You were just at the right place at the right time.” She turned to Jason. “Look, fighting is all fine, I suppose. And people who build things...” She looked at Leo in disdain. “Well, I suppose someone has to get their hands dirty. But you need charm on your side. I can be very persuasive. I could help a lot.”  
  
The campers started murmuring about how Drew was pretty persuasive. I could see Drew winning them over. Even Chiron was scratching his beard, like Drew’s participation suddenly made sense to him.  
  
“Well...” Annabeth said. “Given the wording of the prophecy—”  
  
“No!” Piper’s own voice sounded strange in her ears - more insistent, richer in tone. “I’m supposed to go.”  
  
Everyone started nodding, muttering that _hmm, Piper’s point of view made sense too_. Drew looked around, incredulous. Even some of her own campers were nodding.  
  
“Get over it!” Drew snapped at the crowd. “What can Piper do?”

Piper didn't answer

“Well,” Drew said smugly, “I guess that settles it.”  
  
Suddenly there was collective gasp. Everyone looked at Piper like she'd just exploded, which she kind of had.  
  
“What?” she demanded.  
  
She looked above her, but there was no burning symbol like the one that appeared over Leo. Then she looked down and yelped.  
  
She was adorned in a beautiful white sleeveless gown that went down to her ankles, with a V-neck so low it was probably embarrassing. Delicate gold armbands circled her biceps. An intricate necklace of amber, coral, and gold flowers glittered on her chest, and her hair...  
  
“Oh, god,” she said. “What’s happened?”  
  
A stunned Annabeth pointed at Piper’s dagger, which was now oiled and gleaming, hanging at her side on a golden cord. She unsheathed Katoptris and stared at her reflection in the polished metal blade. Her hair was perfect: lush and long and chocolate brown, braided with gold ribbons down one side so it fell across her shoulder. She even wore makeup - subtle touches that made her lips cherry red and brought out all the different colors in her eyes.  
  
She was gorgeous.  
  
“Beautiful,” Jason exclaimed. “Piper, you... you’re a knockout.”  
  
Under different circumstances, that would’ve been the happiest moment of her life. But now everyone was staring at her like she was a freak. Drew’s face was full of horror and revulsion. “No!” she cried. “Not possible!”  
  
“This isn’t me,” Piper protested. “I - don’t understand.”  
  
Chiron the centaur folded his front legs and bowed to her, and all the campers followed his example.  
  
“Hail, Piper McLean,” Chiron announced gravely, as if he were speaking at her funeral. “Daughter of Aphrodite, lady of the doves, goddess of love.”


	5. Chapter 5

**EMILY-CATHERINE**

A moment of silence passed before everyone got up.

"That just leaves the sun," Rachel finally broke the silence, "which can only mean Apollo."

All eyes turned to my cabin, and most of the camp started whispering to each other, probably speculating. I stood up.

"It's me." Will looked up at me, surprised and - was he scared? - but I ignored him.

"How do you know?" one of the new Hermes kids asked. I glared at him, and he shrunk in his seat. Will stood up next to me, and placed a hand on my arm to stop me from cussing out a young boy.

"My twin sometimes gets premonitions when she sings. It's a rare Apollo gift." He turned to me. "What did you see?"

"A battle. I was shooting arrows at wolves, there was a ruined mansion nearby. It wasn't anywhere near here, but I don't know specifically where, or any other details. It's going to happen in a few days." I turned to Jason. "I hereby volunteer for this quest."

He seemed to hesitate for a moment, but then nodded in acceptance.

Chiron trotted forward and announced the matter closed, and when the other campers started eating s'mores, I gave Will a quick kiss on the cheek and left to go to the Apollo cabin and prepare.

I put some ambrosia and nectar in there, along with some basic medical stuff - bandages, mortal pain killers, some iodine to disinfect wounds, etc. - and some extra throwing daggers as a backup incase I ran out of arrows. I also put vitamin pills and some packets of crackers in there; I didn't know if we were going to have access to food.

I put the backpack next to my nightstand, on which my twin daggers rested. I opened my drawer and took out my iPod, and stuffed it in the backpack's front pocket. The iPod had been a gift from my dad; it could play anything I wanted, whenever I wanted, and it doubled as a speaker.

I'd always considered myself to be very lucky in this aspect, because (however much most technology was basically sending up an emergency flare to all monsters) music equipment was safe to use for demigods. Chiron always took advantage of this fact too, as he had a gigantic record/cd collection.

Eventually, my cabin came back from the campfire, and we all got ready for bed.

That night, I dreamt the same scene as usual: Silena's death.

_I ran out of the infirmary when I heard Clarisse screaming._

_"NO! Curse you, WHY?" Her voice was shaken with grief as she cried out to a figure on the ground... in her armour. Annabeth and the Ares campers were trying to unfasten her helmet._

_The girl wearing Clarisse's armour was much thinner, not as tall._ _  
  
"WHY?" The real Clarisse demanded, holding the other girl in her arms while the campers struggled to remove the poison-corroded helmet._

_I finally managed to reach them as Chris Rodriguez ran over from the flying chariot. He and Clarisse must've ridden it here from camp, chasing the Ares campers, who'd (apparently mistakenly) been following the other girl, thinking she was Clarisse.  
  
The drakon tugged its head from the brick wall and screamed in rage.  
  
"Look out!" Chris warned.  
  
Instead of turning toward us, the drakon whirled toward the sound of Chris's voice. It bared its fangs at the group of demigods.  
  
The real Clarisse looked up at the drakon, her face filled with absolute hate.  
  
"YOU WANT DEATH?" She screamed at it. "WELL, COME ON!"  
  
She grabbed her spear from the fallen girl. With no armor or shield, she charged the drakon.  
  
Percy tried to close the distance to help, but Clarisse was faster. She leaped aside as the monster struck, pulverizing the ground in front of her. Then she jumped onto the creature's head. As it reared up, she drove her electric spear into its good eye with so much force it shattered the shaft, releasing all of the magic weapon's power.  
  
Electricity arced across the creature's head, causing its whole body to shudder. Clarisse jumped free, rolling safely to the sidewalk as smoke boiled from the drakon's mouth. The drakon's flesh dissolved, and it collapsed into a hollow scaly tunnel of armor.  
  
The rest of the Ares cabin stared at Clarisse in awe. I had never seen anyone take down such a huge monster single-handedly. But Clarisse didn't seem to care. She ran back to the wounded girl who'd stolen her armor, whose helmet I was still trying to remove.  
  
Finally, I succeeded. Everyone gathered around: the Ares campers, Chris, Clarisse, Annabeth, and Percy. The battle still raged along Fifth Avenue, but for that moment nothing existed except our small circle and the fallen girl.  
  
Her features, once beautiful, were badly burned from poison. I could tell that no amount of nectar or ambrosia would save her._

_Only magic could've helped, at this point, and my heart staggered; I was the only one here with such magic. Why, gods, WHY had I been so stupid and selfish as to not train my singing powers? I blanked on every hymn to my father, couldn't bring myself to even speak normally. My heart seemed to stop as_ _I looked down at the dying face of Silena Beauregard.  
  
"What were you thinking?" Clarisse cradled Silena's head in her lap.  
  
Silena tried to swallow, but her lips were dry and cracked. "Wouldn't... listen. Cabin would... only follow you."  
  
"So you stole my armor," Clarisse said in disbelief. "You waited until Chris and I went out on patrol; you stole my armor and pretended to be me." She glared at her siblings. "And NONE of you noticed?"  
  
The Ares campers developed a sudden interest in their combat boots.  
  
"Don't blame them," Silena said. "They wanted to... to believe I was you."  
  
"You stupid Aphrodite girl," Clarisse sobbed. "You charged a drakon? Why?"  
  
"All my fault," Silena said, a tear streaking the side of her face. "The drakon, Charlie's death... camp endangered-"  
  
"Stop it!" I said, crying silently. "That's not true."  
  
Silena opened her hand. In her palm was a silver bracelet with a scythe charm - the mark of Kronos.  
  
Percy was the one to finally speak up. "You were the spy."  
  
Silena tried to nod. "Before... before I liked Charlie, Luke was nice to me. He was so... charming. Handsome. Later, I wanted to stop helping him, but he threatened to tell. He promised... he promised I was saving lives. Fewer people would get hurt. He told me he wouldn't hurt... Charlie. He lied to me."  
  
Behind us, the battle raged. Inside me, the same was happening. If I sang, I could theoretically heal her - or make her eternally sleep on accident. I couldn't form a coherent thought on the matter._

_"Cathy... don't blame anyone but me... promise me." Silena must've caught onto my inner monologue._

_"I don't know what to do," I sobbed._

_"Promise," she insisted, her voice weakening. I nodded frantically at her, trying to do something - anything - to make her happy. She deserved better, damnit, she did.  
  
Clarisse, probably overcome with emotions, scowled at her cabinmates. "Go, help the centaurs. Protect the doors. GO!"  
  
They scrambled off to join the fight.  
  
Silena took a heavy, painful breath. "Forgive me."  
  
"You're not dying," Clarisse insisted.  
  
"Charlie..." Silena's eyes were a million miles away. "See Charlie..."  
  
She didn't speak again._


	6. Chapter 6

**EMILY-CATHERINE**

When I woke up, the sun had just risen. I grabbed some practical clothes for the quest and had a quick shower before putting them on. After lacing up my combat boots - black, to match my pants/tank top combo, and with Celestial Bronze points on the front of them - I went back into the bathroom and started hacking at my hair. I'd cut it short after the war, and it had grown to fall in my face quite a lot. As an archer, I kind of needed to be able to see, so I cut my bangs to just above my brows. I chopped away the rest of my hair to near-buzzcut length and quickly brushed it to get rid of the excess pieces.

I went back to my bunk and grabbed a zip-up hoodie and my backpack. Just as I finished putting them on, I felt the need to go to the edge of the forest. I'd learnt a while back to follow these sort of gut feelings as soon as possible, so grabbed my bow and quiver and ran out of the cabin.

I fastened the quiver as I went, but nearly dropped it when I saw the dragon. Piper caught up to me just as I nocked an arrow.

"Leo?" she yelled.  
  
Sure enough, there he was, sitting atop a giant bronze death machine and grinning like a lunatic. Even before he landed, the camp alarm went up. A conch horn blew. All the satyrs started screaming, “Don’t kill me!” Half the camp ran outside in a mixture of pajamas and armor. The dragon set down right in the middle of the green, and Leo yelled, “It’s cool! Don’t shoot!”  
  
Hesitantly, the other archers lowered their bows. The warriors backed away, keeping their spears and swords ready. They made a loose wide ring around the metal monster. Other demigods hid behind their cabin doors or peeped out the windows. Nobody seemed anxious to get close.  
  
Cowards.

The dragon was huge. It glistened in the morning sun like a living penny sculpture - different shades of copper and bronze - a sixty-foot-long serpent with steel talons and drill-bit teeth and glowing ruby eyes. It had bat-shaped wings twice its length that unfurled like metallic sails, making a sound like coins cascading out of a slot machine every time they flapped.  
  
“It’s beautiful,” Piper muttered. I just put my arrow back in my quiver, keeping my pokerface on. The other demigods stared at us like we were insane.  
  
The dragon reared its head and shot a column of fire into the sky. Campers scrambled away and hefted their weapons, but Leo slid calmly off the dragon’s back. He held up his hands like he was surrendering, except he still had that crazy grin on his face.  
  
“People of Earth, I come in peace!” he shouted. He looked like he’d been rolling around in the campfire. His army coat and his face were smeared with soot. His hands were grease-stained, and he wore a new tool belt around his waist. His eyes were bloodshot. His curly hair was so oily it stuck up in porcupine quills, and he smelled strangely of Tabasco sauce. But he looked absolutely delighted. “Festus is just saying hello!”  
  
“That thing is dangerous!” an Ares girl shouted, brandishing her spear. “Kill it now!”

"Hey, wanna shut up?" I glared at Clarisse, who'd been the one to speak. My past friend looked at me with an emotion I couldn't decipher, but I held my ground. Charlie had been the one to work with that dragon before the explosion, and I wasn't about to let anyone harm it unless absolutely needed.  
  
“Stand down!” someone ordered.  
  
To my surprise, it was Jason. He pushed through the crowd, flanked by Annabeth and Nyssa.  
  
Jason gazed up at the dragon and shook his head in amazement. “Leo, what have you done?”  
  
“Found a ride!” Leo beamed. “You said I could go on the quest if I got you a ride. Well, I got you a class-A metallic flying bad boy! Festus can take us anywhere!”  
  
“It- has wings,” Nyssa stammered. Her jaw looked like it might drop off her face.  
  
“Yeah!” Leo said. “I found them and reattached them.”  
  
“But it never had wings. Where did you find them?”  
  
Leo hesitated, and I could tell he was hiding something.  
  
“In... the woods,” he said. “Repaired his circuits, too, mostly, so no more problems with him going haywire.”  
  
“Mostly?” Nyssa asked.  
  
The dragon’s head twitched. It tilted to one side and a stream of black liquid - maybe oil, hopefully just oil - poured out of its ear, all over Leo.  
  
“Just a few kinks to work out,” Leo said.  
  
“But how did you survive...?” Nyssa was still staring at the creature in awe. “I mean, the fire breath...”  
  
“I’m quick,” Leo said. “And lucky. Now, am I on this quest, or what?”  
  
Definitely hiding something.

Jason scratched his head. “You named him Festus? You know that in Latin, ‘festus’ means ‘happy’? You want us to ride off to save the world on Happy the Dragon?”  
  
The dragon twitched and shuddered and flapped his wings.  
  
“That’s a yes, bro!” Leo said. “Now, um, I’d really suggest we get going, guys. I already picked up some supplies in the- um, in the woods. And all these people with weapons are making Festus nervous.”  
  
Jason frowned. “But we haven’t planned anything yet. We can’t just-” "Yes we can." I crossed my arms at him, a silent challenge to disagree.  
  
“Go,” Annabeth said. She was the only one who didn’t look nervous at all. Her expression was sad and wistful, like this reminded her of better times. “Jason, you’ve only got three days until the solstice now, and you should never keep a nervous dragon waiting. This is certainly a good omen. Go!”  
  
Jason nodded. Then he smiled at Piper. “You ready, partner?”  
  
Piper looked at the bronze dragon wings shining against the sky, and those talons that could’ve shredded her to pieces.  
  
“You bet,” she said.


	7. Chapter 7

**EMILY-CATHERINE**

Up high, the air was freezing cold; but the dragon’s metal hide generated so much heat, it was like we were flying in a protective bubble. The grooves in the dragon’s back were designed like high-tech saddles, so we weren’t uncomfortable at all. Leo showed us how to hook their feet in the chinks of the armor, like in stirrups, and use the leather safety harnesses cleverly concealed under the exterior plating. We sat single file: Leo in front, then Piper, then Jason, then me.  
  
Leo used the reins to steer the dragon into the sky like he’d been doing it all his life. The metal wings worked perfectly, and soon the coast of Long Island was just a hazy line behind us. We shot over Connecticut and climbed into the gray winter clouds.  
  
Leo grinned back at us. “Cool, right?”  
  
“What if we get spotted?” Piper asked.  
  
“The Mist,” Jason said. “It keeps mortals from seeing magic things. If they spot us, they’ll probably mistake us for a small plane or something.”  
  
Piper glanced over her shoulder. “You sure about that?”  
  
“No,” he admitted.

"It will." I looked over his shoulder and saw he was clutching a photo in his hand - a picture of a girl with dark hair. Thalia.  
  
I gave Jason a quizzical look, but he blushed and put the photo in his pocket. “We’re making good time. Probably get there by tonight.”  
  
Piper spoke up: “Where are we heading?”  
  
“To find the god of the North Wind,” Jason said. “And chase some storm spirits.”

We flew in silence for a moment, and I plugged in my earbuds until I heard Leo say "Shut up, me."

“What?” Piper asked.  
  
“Nothing,” he said. “Long night. I think I’m hallucinating. It’s cool.”  
  
I raised an eyebrow.  
  
“Just joking.” Leo sounded nervous. “So what’s the plan, bro? You said something about catching wind, or breaking wind, or something?”  
  
As they flew over New England, Jason laid out the game plan: First, find some guy named Boreas and grill him for information-  
  
“His name is Boreas?” Leo had to ask. “What is he, the God of Boring?”  
  
Second, Jason continued, we had to find those venti that had attacked them at the Grand Canyon-  
  
“Can we just call them storm spirits?” Leo asked. “Venti makes them sound like evil espresso drinks.”  
  
And third, Jason finished, we had to find out who the storm spirits worked for, so we could find Hera and free her.  
  
“So you want to look for Dylan, the nasty storm dude, on purpose,” Leo said. “The guy who threw me off the skywalk and sucked Coach Hedge into the clouds.”  
  
“That’s about it,” Jason said. “Well... there may be a wolf involved, too. But I think she’s friendly. She probably won’t eat us, unless we show weakness.”  
  
Jason told us about his dream - the big nasty mother wolf and a burned-out house with stone spires growing out of the swimming pool.  
  
“Uh-huh,” Leo said. “But you don’t know where this place is.”  
  
“Nope,” Jason admitted.  
  
“There’s also giants,” Piper added. “The prophecy said the giants’ revenge.”  
  
“Hold on,” Leo said. “Giants - like more than one? Why can’t it be just one giant who wants revenge?”  
  
“I don’t think so,” Piper said. “I remember in some of the old Greek stories, there was something about an army of giants.”  
  
“Great,” Leo muttered. “Of course, with our luck, it’s an army. So you know anything else about these giants? Didn’t you do a bunch of myth research for that movie with your dad?”  
  
“Your dad’s an actor?” Jason asked.  
  
Leo laughed. “I keep forgetting about your amnesia. Heh. Forgetting about amnesia. That’s funny. But yeah, her dad’s Tristan McLean.”

Huh. Drew's probably not very pleased at that.

“Uh - Sorry, what was he in?”  
  
“It doesn’t matter,” Piper said quickly. “The giants - well, there were lots of giants in Greek mythology. But if I’m thinking of the right ones, they were bad news. Huge, almost impossible to kill. They could throw mountains and stuff. I think they were related to the Titans."

I nodded. "Yep. They rose from the earth after Kronos lost the war - I mean the first Titan war, thousands of years ago - and they tried to destroy Olympus. If we’re talking about the same giants-”  
  
“Chiron said it was happening again,” Jason remembered. “The last chapter. That’s what he meant. No wonder he didn’t want us to know all the details.”  
  
Leo whistled. “So... giants who can throw mountains. Friendly wolves that will eat us if we show weakness. Evil espresso drinks. Gotcha. Maybe this isn’t the time to bring up my psycho babysitter.”  
  
“Is that another joke?” I asked.  
  
Leo told us about Tía Callida, who was really Hera, and how she’d appeared to him at camp. He then told us about how his mother died, saying the machine shop collapsed. He then mentioned the strange woman in earthen robes who seemed to be asleep, and seemed to know the future.  
  
I estimated the whole state of Massachusetts passed below us before one of us spoke.  
  
“That’s... disturbing,” Piper said.  
  
“’Bout sums it up,” Leo agreed. “Thing is, everybody says don’t trust Hera. She hates demigods. And the prophecy said we’d cause death if we unleash her rage. So I’m wondering... why are we doing this?”  
  
“She chose us,” Jason said. “All three of us. We’re the first of the eight who have to gather for the Great Prophecy. This quest is the beginning of something much bigger.” I nodded. "When Percy first came to camp, his first quest set off the start of the Second Titan War. This quest carries the same energy."  
  
“Besides,” Jason continued, “helping Hera is the only way I can get back my memory. And that dark spire in my dream seemed to be feeding on Hera’s energy. If that thing unleashes a king of the giants by destroying Hera-”  
  
“Not a good trade-off,” Piper agreed. “At least Hera is on our side - mostly. Losing her would throw the gods into chaos. She’s the main one who keeps peace in the family. And a war with the giants could be even more destructive than the Titan War.”  
  
Jason nodded. “Chiron also talked about worse forces stirring on the solstice, with it being a good time for dark magic, and all - something that could awaken if Hera were sacrificed on that day. And this mistress who’s controlling the storm spirits, the one who wants to kill all the demigods-”  
  
“Might be that weird sleeping lady,” Leo finished. “Dirt Woman fully awake? Not something I want to see.”  
  
“But who is she?” Jason asked. “And what does she have to do with giants?”  
  
“Why don’t you get some sleep?” Piper said in Leo's ear. “You were up all night.”

“You won’t let me fall off?”  
  
Piper patted his shoulder. “Trust me, Valdez. Beautiful people never lie.”  
  
“Right,” he muttered. He leaned forward against the warm bronze of the dragon’s neck, and closed his eyes.


	8. Chapter 8

**EMILY-CATHERINE**

“We’re here,” she said.  
  
Leo rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. Below us, a city sat on a cliff overlooking a river. The plains around it were dusted with snow, but the city itself glowed warmly in the winter sunset. Buildings crowded together inside high walls like a medieval town, way older than any place I had seen before. In the center was something that looked like a castle.

“Tell me that’s Quebec and not Santa’s workshop,” Leo said.  
  
“Yeah, Quebec City,” Piper confirmed. “One of the oldest cities in North America. Founded around sixteen hundred or so?”  
  
Leo raised an eyebrow. “Your dad do a movie about that too?”

“I read sometimes, okay? Just because Aphrodite claimed me, doesn’t mean I have to be an airhead.”  
  
“Feisty!” Leo said. “So you know so much, what’s that castle?”  
  
“A hotel, I think.”  
  
Leo laughed. “No way.”  
  
But as we got closer, I saw she was right. The grand entrance was bustling with doormen, valets, and porters taking bags. Sleek black luxury cars idled in the drive. People in elegant suits and winter cloaks hurried to get out of the cold.  
  
“The North Wind is staying in a hotel?” Leo said. “That can’t be-”  
  
“Heads up, guys,” I interrupted. “Company.”  
  
Rising from the top of the tower were two winged figures - angry angels, with nasty-looking swords.

I got my bow and arrow ready.  
  
“Steady, boy,” Leo muttered to the dragon.  
  
“I don’t like this,” Jason said. “They look like storm spirits.”

"No, they're probably minor gods," I said. They were much more solid than _anemoi_ , especially _anemoi thuellai_. On top of that, they exuded a more powerful energy.  
  
One was the size of an ox, with a bright red hockey jersey, baggy sweatpants, and black leather cleats. The guy clearly had been in too many fights, because both his eyes were black, and when he bared his teeth, several of them were missing.  
  
The other guy looked like he’d just stepped off one of the worlds suckiest 80's rock albums. His ice-white hair was long and feathered into a mullet. He wore pointy-toed leather shoes, designer pants that were way too tight, and a god-awful silk shirt with the top three buttons open. Maybe he thought he looked like a groovy love god, but the guy couldn’t have weighed more than ninety pounds, and he had a bad case of acne.

The angels pulled up in front of the dragon and hovered there, swords at the ready.  
  
The hockey ox grunted. “No clearance.”  
  
“’Scuse me?” Leo said.  
  
“You have no flight plan on file,” explained the groovy love god. On top of his other problems, he had a French accent so bad I was sure it was fake. “This is restricted airspace.”  
  
“Destroy them?” The ox showed off his gap-toothed grin.  
  
The dragon began to hiss steam, ready to defend us. Jason summoned his golden sword, but Leo cried, “Hold on! Let’s have some manners here, boys. Can I at least find out who has the honor of destroying me?”  
  
“I am Cal!” the ox grunted. He looked very proud of himself, like he’d taken a long time to memorize that sentence.  
  
“That’s short for Calais,” the love god said. “Sadly, my brother cannot say words with more than two syllables-”  
  
“Pizza! Hockey! Destroy!” Cal offered.  
  
“- which includes his own name,” the love god finished.  
  
“I am Cal,” Cal repeated. “And this is Zethes! My brother!”  
  
“Wow,” I said in the most monotone voice I could muster. “That was almost three sentences, dude. Way to go.”  
  
Cal grunted, obviously pleased with himself.  
  
“Stupid buffoon,” his brother grumbled. “They make fun of you. But no matter. I am Zethes, which is short for Zethes. And the less rude lady there-” He winked at Piper, but the wink was more like a facial seizure. “She can call me anything she likes. Perhaps she would like to have dinner with a famous demigod before we must destroy you?”  
  
Piper made a sound like gagging on a cough drop. “That’s... a truly horrifying offer.”  
  
“It is no problem.” Zethes wiggled his eyebrows. “We are a very romantic people, we Boreads.”  
  
“Boreads?” Jason cut in. “Do you mean, like, the sons of Boreas?”  
  
“Ah, so you’ve heard of us!” Zethes looked pleased. “We are our father’s gatekeepers. So you understand, we cannot have unauthorized people flying in his airspace on creaky dragons, scaring the silly mortal peoples.”  
  
He pointed below, and I saw that the mortals were starting to take notice. Several were pointing up - not with alarm, yet - more with confusion and annoyance, like the dragon was a traffic helicopter flying too low.  
  
“Which is sadly why, unless this is an emergency landing,” Zethes said, brushing his hair out of his acne-covered face, “we will have to destroy you painfully.”  
  
“Destroy!” Cal agreed, with a little more enthusiasm than Leo thought necessary.  
  
“Wait!” Piper said. “This is an emergency landing.”  
  
“Awww!” Cal looked so disappointed, I almost felt sorry for him. Almost.  
  
Zethes studied Piper, which of course he’d already been doing. “How does the prettier girl decide this is an emergency, then?” Gee, thanks, dude. Real confidence boost for me here.  
  
“We have to see Boreas. It’s totally urgent! Please?” She forced a smile, which I figured must’ve been killing her; but she still had that blessing of Aphrodite thing going on, and she looked great. Something about her voice, too - I found myself believing every word. Jason was nodding along to her words, looking absolutely convinced.  
  
Zethes picked at his silk shirt, probably making sure it was still open wide enough. “Well... I hate to disappoint a lovely lady, but you see, my sister, she would have an avalanche if we allowed you-”  
  
“Our dragon is malfunctioning!” I added. “It could crash any minute!”  
  
Festus shuddered helpfully, then turned his head and spilled gunk out of his ear, splattering a black Mercedes in the parking lot below.  
  
“No destroy?” Cal whimpered.  
  
Zethes pondered the problem. Then he gave Piper another spasmodic wink, and then, to my dismay, gave me what I supposed must have been an attempt at a flirty grin. “Well, you are _sort of_ pretty. I mean, you’re right. A malfunctioning dragon - this could be an emergency.”  
  
“Destroy them later?” Cal offered, which was probably as close to friendly as he ever got.  
  
“It will take some explaining,” Zethes decided. “Father has not been kind to visitors lately. But, yes. Come, faulty dragon people. Follow us.”  
  
The Boreads sheathed their swords and pulled smaller weapons from their belts - or at least I thought they were weapons. Then the Boreads switched them on, and I realized they were flashlights with orange cones, like the ones traffic controller guys use on a runway. Cal and Zethes turned and swooped toward the hotel’s tower.  
  
Leo turned to us. “I love these guys. Follow them?”  
  
Jason and Piper didn’t look eager.  
  
“I guess,” Jason decided. “We’re here now. But I wonder why Boreas hasn’t been kind to visitors.”  
  
“Pfft, he just hasn’t met us.” Leo whistled. “Festus, after those flashlights!”  
  
“This cannot be good,” Jason muttered, but Leo spurred the dragon downward, and we swooped in after the Boreads.


	9. Chapter 9

**EMILY-CATHERINE**

We landed in what must have been the penthouse suite; but the place had been hit by a flash freeze. The entry hall had vaulted ceilings forty feet high, huge draped windows, and lush oriental carpets. A staircase at the back of the room led up to another equally massive hall, and more corridors branched off to the left and right. But the ice made the room’s beauty a little frightening. When we slid off the dragon, the carpet crunched under our feet. A fine layer of frost covered the furniture. The curtains didn’t budge because they were frozen solid, and the ice-coated windows let in weird watery light from the sunset. Even the ceiling was furry with icicles. As for the stairs, I was sure I’d slip and break my neck if I tried to climb them.  
  
“Guys,” Leo said, “fix the thermostat in here, and I would totally move in.”  
  
“Not me.” I looked at the staircase. “Something feels wrong. Something up there..."  
  
Festus shuddered and snorted flames. Frost started to form on his scales.  
  
“No, no, no.” Zethes marched over, though how he could walk in those pointy leather shoes, I had no idea. Must've been even worse than heels. “The dragon must be deactivated. We can’t have fire in here. The heat ruins my hair.”  
  
Festus growled and spun his drill-bit teeth as I decided against pointing out that his hair was already doomed.  
  
“’S’okay, boy.” Leo turned to Zethes. “The dragon’s a little touchy about the whole deactivation concept. But I’ve got a better solution.”  
  
“Destroy?” Cal suggested.  
  
“No, man. You gotta stop with the destroy talk. Just wait.”  
  
“Leo,” Piper said nervously, “what are you-”  
  
“Watch and learn, beauty queen. When I was repairing Festus last night, I found all kinds of buttons. Some, you do not want to know what they do. But others... Ah, here we go.”  
  
Leo hooked his fingers behind the dragon’s left foreleg. He pulled a switch, and the dragon shuddered from head to toe. Everyone backed away as Festus folded like origami. His bronze plating stacked together. His neck and tail contracted into his body. His wings collapsed and his trunk compacted until he was a rectangular metal wedge the size of a suitcase.  
  
Leo tried to lift it, but failed. “Um... yeah. Hold on. I think- aha.”  
  
He pushed another button. A handle flipped up on the top, and wheels clicked out on the bottom.  
  
“Ta-da!” he announced. “The world’s heaviest carry-on bag!”  
  
“That’s impossible,” Jason said. “Something that big couldn’t-”  
  
“Stop!” Zethes ordered. He and Cal both drew their swords and glared at Leo.  
  
Leo raised his hands. “Okay... what’d I do? Stay calm, guys. If it bothers you that much, I don’t have to take the dragon as carry-on-”  
  
“Who are you?” Zethes shoved the point of his sword against Leo’s chest. “A child of the South Wind, spying on us?”  
  
“What? No!” Leo said. “Son of Hephaestus. Friendly blacksmith, no harm to anyone!”  
  
Cal growled. He put his face up to Leo’s. “Smell fire,” he said. “Fire is bad.”  
  
“Oh.” Leo looked nervous. “Yeah, well... my clothes are kind of singed, and I’ve been working with oil, and-”  
  
“No!” Zethes pushed Leo back at sword point. “We can smell fire, demigod. We assumed it was from the creaky dragon, but now the dragon is a suitcase. And I still smell fire... on you.”

“Hey... look... I don’t know-” He glanced at us desperately. “Guys, a little help?”  
  
Jason already had his gold coin in his hand. He stepped forward, his eyes on Zethes. “Look, there’s been a mistake. Leo isn’t a fire guy. Tell them, Leo. Tell them you’re not a fire guy.”  
  
“Um...” I narrowed my eyes at him - he wasn't denying it.  
  
“Zethes?” Piper tried her dazzling smile again, though she looked a little too nervous and cold to pull it off. “We’re all friends here. Put down your swords and let’s talk.”  
  
“The girl is pretty,” Zethes admitted, “and of course she cannot help being attracted to my amazingness; but sadly, I cannot romance her at this time.” He poked his sword point farther into Leo’s chest.  
  
“Destroy him now?” Cal asked his brother.  
  
Zethes nodded. “Sadly, I think-”  
  
“No,” I spoke up, pokerface on. “Leo’s just a son of Hephaestus. He’s no threat. I'm a child of Apollo. She's a daughter of Aphrodite. That's the son of Zeus. We’re on a peaceful mission to...”  
  
My voice faltered, because both Boreads had suddenly turned on Jason.  
  
“What did she say?” Zethes demanded. “You are the son of Zeus?”  
  
“Um... yeah,” Jason said. “That’s a good thing, right? My name is Jason.”  
  
Cal looked so surprised, he almost dropped his sword. “Can’t be Jason,” he said. “Doesn’t look the same.”  
  
Zethes stepped forward and squinted at Jason’s face. “No, he is not our Jason. Our Jason was more stylish. Not as much as me - but stylish. Besides, our Jason died millennia ago.”  
  
“Wait,” Jason said. “Your Jason... you mean the original Jason? The Golden Fleece guy?”

“Of course,” Zethes said. “We were his crewmates aboard his ship, the Argo, in the old times, when we were mortal demigods. Then we accepted immortality to serve our father, so I could look this good for all time, and my silly brother could enjoy pizza and hockey.”  
  
“Hockey!” Cal agreed. Again, I decided against pointing out the hopelessness of Zethes' entire look.  
  
“But Jason - our Jason - he died a mortal death,” Zethes said. “You can’t be him.”  
  
“I’m not,” Jason agreed.  
  
“So, destroy?” Cal asked. Clearly the conversation was giving his two brain cells a serious workout.  
  
“No,” Zethes said regretfully. “If he is a son of Zeus, he could be the one we’ve been watching for.”  
  
“Watching for?” Leo asked. “You mean like in a good way: you’ll shower him with fabulous prizes? Or watching for like in a bad way: he’s in trouble?”  
  
A girl’s voice said, “That depends on my father’s will.”  
  
At the top stood a girl in a white silk dress. Her skin was unnaturally pale, the color of snow, but her hair was a lush mane of black, and her eyes were coffee brown. She focused on Leo with no expression, no smile, no friendliness. She curled her lip up at me a little bit, and I glared back at her - the cold and the sun usually don't compute. At least, I was guessing on her having something to do with the cold, if she was Boreas' daughter.  
  
Then she looked at Jason and Piper, and seemed to understand the situation immediately.  
  
“Father will want to see the one called Jason,” the girl said.  
  
“Then it is him?” Zethes asked excitedly.  
  
“We’ll see,” the girl said. “Zethes, bring our guests.”  
  
Leo grabbed the handle of his bronze dragon suitcase.  
  
Before he could take a step, the girl froze him with a look.  
  
“Not you, Leo Valdez,” she said.  
  
“Why not?” He sounded like a whiny kindergartner.  
  
“You cannot be in the presence of my father,” the girl said. “Fire and ice - it would not be wise.”  
  
“We’re going together,” Jason insisted, putting his hand on Leo’s shoulder, “or not at all.”  
  
The girl tilted her head, like she wasn’t used to people refusing her orders. “He will not be harmed, Jason Grace, unless you make trouble. Calais, keep Leo Valdez here. Guard him, but do not kill him.” I kept my poker face on, but Grace was Thalia's last name as well. It couldn't have been a coincidence.  
  
Cal's voice brought me out of my pondering. “Just a little?”  
  
“No,” the girl insisted. “And take care of his interesting suitcase, until Father passes judgment.”  
  
Jason and Piper looked at Leo, their expressions asking him a silent question: _How do you want to play this?_  
  
“It’s fine, guys,” he said. “No sense causing trouble if we don’t have to. You go ahead.”

"I'll stay with him. Make sure he doesn't die some dumb way. He'll be important later."  
  
“Listen to your friends,” the pale girl said. “Leo Valdez will be perfectly safe. I wish I could say the same for you, son of Zeus. Now come, King Boreas is waiting.”


	10. Chapter 10

**EMILY-CATHERINE**

"So, I'll be important later, huh?" Leo asked after the others had left. I looked at him to see a grin on his face.

"It's a gut feeling. Apollo thing. About a third of the cabin has it, mine just happens to be stronger than usual." I was very much aware I wasn't being very nice, but I refused to open up to people other than my twin. Nico di Angelo was the only thing close to an exception, only because he was the one that most understood how I felt.

"Yeah, what are your powers? I've been wondering, can you, like, turn the sun on and off or something? Jake told me you're powerful, and Nyssa told me not to underestimate you."

I rolled my eyes. "I can talk to ravens. I can shoot an arrow pretty good. I grow slightly more powerful in direct sunlight. And I can sing."

He frowned. "That's it? I mean, talking to animals and using a weapon is cool and all, but how does any of this make you powerful?"

I glared at him, but he didn't back down. I wasn't used to that. I decided to tell him - sort of. Most of the people at camp knew about my singing powers anyway.

"Don't underestimate my voice. Aphrodite may have some charmspeakers in her cabin every now and then, but I can do better than most of them.

"Okay. Bring it on, Sunshine."

I felt the gold specks in my blue eyes shine more brightly. I began singing an Ancient Greek song, a lullaby mothers would sing to their newborns, asking Hypnos to bless them with a good night's sleep.

I didn't put too much magic into my song, and stopped after a single verse, when I noticed him swaying. "That's just a taste, dude. Wouldn't go underestimating me if I were you."

He sighed softly, still partially under the spell.

I ignored Zethes staring at me for the duration of the others' talk with Boreas, and was twirling an arrow around through my fingers when the door opened again.  
  
As the ice princess led Jason and Piper down the stairs, I noticed that Leo’s gaze followed her. I rolled my eyes.  
  
At the bottom step, she turned to Piper. “You have fooled my father, girl. But you have not fooled me. We are not done. And you, Jason Grace, I will see you as a statue in the throne room soon enough.”  
  
“Boreas is right,” Jason said. “You’re a spoiled kid. See you around, ice princess.”  
  
The girl's eyes flared pure white, seemingly at a loss for words. She stormed back up the stairs - literally. Halfway up, she turned into a blizzard and disappeared.  
  
“Be careful,” Zethes warned. “She never forgets an insult.”  
  
Cal grunted in agreement. “Bad sister.”  
  
“She’s the goddess of snow,” Jason said. “What’s she going to do, throw snowballs at us?” But as he said it, I had a feeling the princess could do a whole lot worse.  
  
Leo looked like he was about to make a comment, but I beat him to it. “What happened up there?”  
  
“We’ll explain later,” Piper promised, but when she glanced at Jason, I realized she expected him to explain.  
  
Jason looked away from Piper, but I could see he was unnerved. “Yeah,” he agreed, “we’ll explain later.”  
  
“Be careful, pretty girl,” Zethes said. “The winds between here and Chicago are bad-tempered. Many other evil things are stirring. I am sorry you will not be staying. You would make a lovely ice statue, in which I could check my reflection.”  
  
“Thanks,” Piper said. “But I’d sooner play hockey with Cal.”  
  
“Hockey?” Cal’s eyes lit up.  
  
“Joking,” Piper said. “And the storm winds aren’t our worst problem, are they?”  
  
“Oh, no,” Zethes agreed. “Something else. Something worse.”  
  
“Worse,” Cal echoed.  
  
“Can you tell me?” Piper gave them a smile.  
  
This time, the charm didn’t work. The purple-winged Boreads shook their heads in unison. The hangar doors opened onto a freezing starry night, and Festus the dragon stomped his feet, anxious to fly.  
  
“Ask Aeolus what is worse,” Zethes said darkly. “He knows. Good luck.”  
  
He almost sounded like he cared what happened to them, even though a few minutes ago he’d wanted to make Piper into an ice sculpture.  
  
Cal patted Leo on the shoulder. “Don’t get destroyed,” he said, which was probably the longest sentence he’d ever attempted. “Next time - hockey. Pizza.”  
  
“Come on, guys.” Jason stared out at the dark. “Let’s go to Chicago and try not to get destroyed.”


	11. Chapter 11

**EMILY-CATHERINE**

Jason explained the events in the Throne Room as the glow of Quebec City faded behind us.  
  
“You were amazing,” Jason told Piper.  
  
She replied in French, but I didn't understand. I spoke a few languages, but French wasn't one of them. I refused to study it after Silena passed.  
  
"What’d you say?” he asked.  
  
“I said I only talked to Boreas. It wasn’t so amazing.”  
  
“Hey,” he said, “you saved me from joining Khione’s subzero hero collection. I owe you one.”  
  
Leo passed us some sandwiches from his pack. He’d been quiet ever since they’d told him what happened. “I still can’t believe Khione,” he said. “She looked so nice.”  
  
“Trust me, man,” Jason said. “Snow may be pretty, but up close it’s cold and nasty. We’ll find you a better prom date."

We ate our sandwiches as we flew. I had no idea how Leo had stocked up on supplies, but he’d even remembered to bring veggie rations for Piper.  
  
Nobody talked. Whatever we might find in Chicago, we all knew Boreas had only let us go because he figured we were already on a suicide mission.  
  
The moon rose and stars turned overhead.

Piper leaned back against Jason’s chest behind me. He didn’t complain. 

I decided to sleep as well, as I had a feeling I'd be needing my energy soon. I huddled in on myself and closed my eyes.

When I opened them, we were falling.

A body shot past me - Leo, screaming and frantically grabbing at the clouds. “Not coooooool!”  
  
Somewhere above me, Jason yelled, “Piper, level out! Extend your arms and legs!”  
  
A few seconds later, they bumped into me. I held onto them as we plummeted.  
  
“We have to get Leo!” Piper shouted.  
  
Our fall slowed as Jason controlled the winds, but we still lurched up and down like the winds didn’t want to cooperate.  
  
“Gonna get rough,” Jason warned. “Hold on!”  
  
Piper screamed as we fell faster, and then, _thump_! We slammed into another warm body - Leo, still wriggling and cursing.  
  
“Stop fighting!” Jason said. “It’s me!”  
  
“My dragon!” Leo yelled. “You gotta save Festus!”  
  
Jason was already struggling to keep the four of us aloft, and I knew there was no way he could help a fifty-ton metal dragon. But before I could try to reason with Leo, I heard an explosion below us. A fireball rolled into the sky from behind a warehouse complex, and Leo sobbed, “Festus!”  
  
Jason’s face reddened with strain as he tried to maintain an air cushion beneath us, but intermittent slow-downs were the best he could manage. Rather than free-falling, it felt like we were bouncing down a giant staircase, a hundred feet at a time.  
  
As we wobbled and zigzagged, I could make out details of the factory complex below - warehouses, smokestacks, barbed-wire fences, and parking lots lined with snow-covered vehicles. We were still high enough so that hitting the ground would flatten us into roadkill - or skykill - when Jason groaned, “I can’t-”

And we dropped like stones.

We hit the roof of the largest warehouse and crashed through into darkness.  
  
I landed on top of Leo, and Jason on top of me. 

“Piper! Where’s Piper?” Jason's voice echoed creepily through the area. He struggled to his feet, allowing me to stand up as well.

“Ow, dude!” Leo groaned as I slipped, landing on Leo again. “That’s my back! I’m not a sofa! Piper, where’d you go?”  
  
“Here,” I heard her say, her voice a whimper. I shared a look with Jason - one that said _this can't be good_. I absentmindedly held out my hand to Leo, who took it and stood up, and we reached Piper's side in a few seconds.

Leo started to ask, “You okay...?” Then we saw her foot. “Oh no, you’re not.”  
  
“Thanks for the reassurance,” Piper groaned.  
  
“You’ll be fine,” Jason said, though I could hear the worry in his voice. “Leo, you got any first aid supplies?”  
  
“Yeah- yeah, sure.” He dug around in his tool belt and pulled out a wad of gauze and a roll of duct tape - both of which seemed too big for the belt’s pockets. I had noticed the tool belt yesterday morning, but I hadn’t thought to ask Leo about it. It didn’t look like anything special - just one of those wraparound leather aprons with a bunch of pockets, like a blacksmith or a carpenter might wear. And it seemed to be empty.  
  
“How did you-” Piper tried to sit up, and winced. “How did pull that stuff from an empty belt?”  
  
“Magic,” Leo said. “Haven’t figure it out completely, but I can summon just about any regular tool out of the pockets, plus some other helpful stuff.” He reached into another pocket and pulled out a little tin box. “Breath mint?”  
  
Jason snatched away the mints. “That’s great, Leo. Now, can you fix her foot?”  
  
“I’m a mechanic, man. Maybe if she was a car...” He snapped his fingers. “Wait, what was that godly healing stuff they fed you at camp - Rambo food?”  
  
“Ambrosia, dummy,” I said, rummaging through my backpack.

"If we set her foot, I can try to heal her bones, but it'll take time." I spoke as I handed Jason a Ziploc full of smashed pastry squares like lemon bars. He broke off a piece and fed it to her.  
  
“More,” she said.  
  
I frowned. “Piper, we shouldn’t risk it. Too much could burn you up. One of you set her foot, I'll prep a gauze with some nectar.”  
  
Piper looked queasy. “Has either of you ever done that before?”  
  
“Yeah... I think so.” Jason's answer didn't seem to please Piper.  
  
Leo found an old piece of wood and broke it in half for a splint. Then I got the gauze ready as Leo prepared the duct tape.  
  
“Hold her leg still,” Jason told him. “Piper, this is going to hurt.”  
  
When Jason set the foot, Piper flinched so hard she punched Leo in the arm, and he yelled almost as much as she did. I put my hand on her forehead as Jason started working on the gauze and duct tape.  
  
“Ow,” she said.  
  
“Jeez, beauty queen!” Leo rubbed his arm. “Glad my face wasn’t there.”  
  
“Sorry,” she said. “And don’t call me ‘beauty queen,’ or I’ll punch you again.”  
  
“You both did great.” Jason found a canteen in Piper’s pack and gave her some water. She still looked like she was about to faint, so I decided to get started. We needed her on this quest.

"Piper, I need you to focus on my voice, okay? This will take a little bit, and it's going to feel weird in your ankle and any other possibly injured places, but it won't hurt." I made my voice as gentle as possible, which I hadn't done since Silena died. This was also probably the longest sentence I'd said since the three of them met me, and I could feel the boys' eyes boring into me.

I started singing a hymn to my father, and I could feel her nausea fading. I hadn't done this in a while, so when Piper looked like she could focus again, I said I needed a break.  
  
Snowflakes fluttered through the hole in the roof, and after that meeting with Khione, snow was the last thing I wanted to see.  
  
“What happened to the dragon?” Piper asked. “Where are we?”  
  
Leo’s expression turned sullen. “I don’t know with Festus. He just jerked sideways like he hit an invisible wall and started to fall.”  
  
Leo pointed to the logo on the wall. “As far as where we are...” It was hard to see through the graffiti, but I didn't care. I needed to get my strength up, and that was difficult at night, especially since I was way too out-of-practice.  
  
“Closed car plant,” Leo said. “I’m guessing we crash-landed in Detroit.”  
  
“How far is that from Chicago?”  
  
Jason handed her the canteen. “Maybe three-fourths of the way from Quebec? The thing is, without the dragon, we’re stuck traveling overland.”  
  
“No way,” Leo said. “It isn’t safe.”  
  
“He’s right. Besides, I don’t know if I can walk. And four people - Jason, you can’t fly that many across country by yourself.”  
  
“No way,” Jason said. “Leo, are you sure the dragon didn’t malfunction? I mean, Festus is old, and-”  
  
“And I might not have repaired him right?”  
  
“I didn’t say that,” Jason protested. “It’s just - maybe you could fix it.”  
  
“I don’t know.” Leo sounded crestfallen. He pulled a few screws out of his pockets and started fiddling with them. “I’d have to find where he landed, if he’s even in one piece.”  
  
“It was my fault.” Piper said.  
  
“Piper,” Jason said gently, “you were asleep when Festus conked out. It couldn’t be your fault.”  
  
“Yeah, you’re just shaken up,” Leo agreed. He didn’t even try to make a joke at her expense. “You’re in pain. Just rest.”

Leo stood. “Look, um, Jason, Millie, why don’t you stay with her? I’ll scout around for Festus. I think he fell outside the warehouse somewhere. If I can find him, maybe I can figure out what happened and fix him.”

I'd looked up in surprise when he called me Millie; nobody had called me that before, but more importantly, nobody I met after the war called me nicknames.  
  
“It’s too dangerous,” Jason said. “You shouldn’t go by yourself.”  
  
“Ah, I got duct tape and breath mints. I’ll be fine,” Leo said, a little too quickly, and I realized he was a lot more shaken up than he was letting on - that could distract him, which was dangerous. “You guys just don’t run off without me.”

"No. I'm coming with you. You're not going out there alone. Jason, you stay with Piper."

"But-"

"Leo, no. Listen, I gotta send Will and Chiron a quick Iris-message anyway, get them updated on the quest." I raised one brow in challenge after I finished speaking. A moment passed before Leo's shoulders finally sagged and he nodded.


End file.
